The invention pertains to a printed circuit board mounting bracket. In particular, the bracket is designed to facilitate mounting printed circuit boards to the chassis of a personal computer without using screws.
Manufacturers of electronic equipment, such as personal computers, continuously strive to improve the methods used to assemble component parts in order to reduce costs. Printed-circuit boards (PC boards), also known as cards, must be connected to a motherboard and secured to a chassis quickly and efficiently while still ensuring good electrical connections. The PC boards include one or more integrated circuit components mounted to a stiff substrate, and conventionally include a circuit board edge connector for connection to an ISA, PCI, AGP or other connector receptacle on the motherboard.
Before final assembly of the electronic equipment, each PC board is typically mounted on a bracket. The bracket and PC board are then lowered into a chassis so that the edge connector of the PC board is inserted into a motherboard connector and holes in the bracket are aligned with pre-drilled holes in the chassis. Screws are then inserted into the holes to secure the bracket to the computer chassis. Therefore, screws and a torque drive tool are required to complete the assembly. Such installation requirements take time, which adds to manufacturing costs. Also, the use of screws makes it difficult for a consumer to later remove a PC board in order to upgrade the system or to perform a repair.